Star Patrol: A Sea PatrolStar Trek: The Next Generation Crossover
by Alcoholic Dinosaur
Summary: Stardate 44002.3: A fleet of 40 starships, including the 50 year old Excelsior class cruiser Hammersley, move to intercept a Borg cube en route to Earth. In the ensuing battle, Lieutenant Commander Nikki Caetano is suddenly thrown into the spotlight when she becomes the highest ranking officer onboard.
1. Chapter 1

Star Patrol: A Sea Patrol/Star Trek: The Next Generation crossover

AN: First crossover, might be a little sucky in places.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek or Sea Patrol

Stardate 44002.3

System: Wolf 359

2008 HRS Earth Time

USS Hammersley - NCC-514202

Excelsior Class Cruiser

_On Stardate 43997, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship _Enterprise _was kidnapped for six days by an invading force known as the Borg. Surgically altered, he was forced to lead an assault on Starfleet at Wolf 359..._

The ominous black cube silently arced through the vacuum of space, the only way to see it was to follow the moving patch of stars that would wink out momentarily as it passed. On the other side of the Borg Cube, a fleet of 40 gleaming white duranimum hulled starships, running lights ablaze, prepared for the soon to be battle. On the bridge of one of them, a saga played out…

"I am Locutus of Borg. You will disarm your weapons...and escort us to sector 001...if you attempt to intervene...we will destroy you. Your life...as it has been...is over. From now on...you will service...us. Resistance is futile."

"Load torpedo bays, arm phasers." Captain Mike Flynn said, walking across the bridge and settling heavily into the command chair of his 30 year old starship.

"The Melbourne's losing power, sir! Kyushu and Sar...Saratoga's core just overloaded sir, I'm reading 12 escape pods. There are Borg boarding parties on the Melbourne and Johnson and the cube has locked onto us!" His navigator, Lieutenant Commander Nikki Caetano, said, looking back at him in the dim flashing red lights. Turning to his tactical officer, recently promoted Lieutenant j.g. Peter Tomezwinski, he nodded, ordering him to begin firing.

"New phaser modulation is having no effe...Aghrrggh!" He yelled, clutching his face as his flew over his sparking console. Mike looked over at his blonde half-Vulcan first officer and ordered her to begin firing from the auxiliary console.

"Attack pattern Delta-Flynn 3!" Mike yelled as another console exploded behind him. Nikki turned to him, worried look on her face.

"Sir! I think I know a way to strengthen the shields!" Nikki said as consoles exploded around them.

"Do it!" He yelled back, sending her scurrying into the turbolift.

"Deck Six!" She said, tugging on the bottom of her science blue uniform. Stepping out, she was thrown against the wall as a huge explosion shook the ship.

"_Warning: Decompression on decks 1-3. All command functions have been routed to Main Engineering."_ The maddenly calm voice of the computer said, stopping Nikki in her tracks.

"Caetano to Flynn." She said, tapping her combadge. Her combadge gave a quick double chirp, signaling an incomplete connection. Blowing out a shaky breath, she tapped her combadge again.

"Caetano to McGregor. Caetano to bridge" Nikki said, voice growing desperate. Stumbling back into the turbolift, she attempted to blink tears from her eyes. "Computer, is anyone on the bridge alive?" She asked, staring at the closed turbolift doors.

"_Negative_." The computer replied.

"Deck 12." She whispered, letting her head fall back against the wall of the turbolift. Her thoughts flew to Josh, the relief helmsman and her lover. 'He was on the bridge. I'm the reason he's dead, because I got some harebrained idea and had to leave the helm.' She thought. "Computer, who is the highest ranking surviving command officer?" Nikki asked as a solitary tear tracked down her face, fearing the answer.

"_The highest ranking officer still alive on the _Hammersley _is Lieutenant Commander Nikki Caetano, service number ST-20072682-H._"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**AN: Here we go, chapter two**

**Disclaimer: Same as last time.**

_"__Caetano to Flynn." She said, tapping her combadge. Her combadge gave a quick double chirp, signaling an incomplete connection. Blowing out a shaky breath, she tapped her combadge again._

_"__Caetano to McGregor. Caetano to bridge" Nikki said, voice growing desperate. Stumbling back into the turbolift, she attempted to blink tears from her eyes. "Computer, is anyone on the bridge alive?" She asked, staring at the closed turbolift doors._

_"__Negative." The computer replied._

_"__Deck 12." She whispered, letting her head fall back against the wall of the turbolift. Her thoughts flew to Josh, the relief helmsman and her lover. 'He was on the bridge. I'm the reason he's dead, because I got some harebrained idea and had to leave the helm.' She thought. "Computer, who is the highest ranking surviving command officer?" Nikki asked as a solitary tear tracked down her face, fearing the answer._

_"__The highest ranking officer still alive on the Hammersley__is Lieutenant Commander Nikki Caetano, service number ST-20072682-H."_

Nikki let out a gasp, bracing herself against the wall of the turbolift to keep from falling onto the floor. The turbolift doors opened to Main Engineering, Chief Engineer Thorpe looking up and rushing over to her.

"Ma'am?!" He shouted, stumbling when another shot beat against the hull.

"The...bridge...all of them...dead. I'm...I'm in command." She mumbled, stumbling into the main engineering compartment of the 30 year old starship. Her mind snapping back to the present, she walked to the control section to where Lieutenant Commander Thorpe stood trying to bring the weapons back on line.

"Never mind the weapons, get me shields, and keep warp drive online!" She yelled, sending engineers scurrying in every direction.

"Ma'am, I've re-organized this console for helm!" Thorpe said, yelling over the sound of a newly erupted coolant conduit. Stepping up to the console, she began tapping furiously.

'Orders be damned, I'm getting us out of here.' She thought, engaging the warp drive. The 30 year old warp engine behind her whined, 3 more coolant leaks springing before they were all thrown to the floor as the lights blinked out, replaced by the red glow of emergency lighting. Pushing herself back to her feet, she looked at the status reports on her hastily repurposed console.

"We're drifting! Get me impulse engines back now!" She yelled, looking over at Thorpe as he walked over.

"What did you do?" He asked, hastily typing on the console.

"The cube was still on course for Earth, no hope of stopping it...barely scratched it, so I set a course for Vulcan and hit warp 7. But we barely got outta the system." Nikki mumbled, gently shoving the slightly overweight engineer aside as she stabilized the drifting, damaged starship. The flashing lights signaling red alert changed to a yellowish hue, an inaudible but collective sigh coming from everyone on the crew.

"Where are we?" Thorpe asked, looking at the wall of consoles.

"On the outskirts of the system." Nikki said, continuing to tap on the console. A shrill alarm rang out, signalling a ship approaching.

"Red alert! Give me whatever shields you got!" She yelled, the yellow lights snapping back to red.

"Approaching vessel is in visual range, Ma'am." Thorpe said, disregarding the Starfleet rule that female officers of a higher rank are to be called 'sir'. On one of the auxiliary monitors, the dual nacelled duck-like image of a Galaxy-class starship appeared, registry number visible on the underside of it's saucer section.

"NCC-1701-D? Enterprise, isn't it?" she asked, trying to finish a diagnostic on the com system.

"Computer, open a channel to the Enterprise." Thorpe said, gruff voice cutting the din of background noise coming from engineers patching up coolant lines. The computer gave a negative double chirp as feedback.

"_Communication systems are offline_." The computer said, eliciting a frustrated sigh from the duo. They watched as the other starship sailed past, Ops officer either blind or incompetent. A junior officer approached, red command tunic standing out amongst the mustard yellows of the engineering department.

"Emergency force fields are in place on the bridge, ma'am. They pulled one survivor from the wreckage. Ensing Webb. There are traces of a Borg transporter beam and some weapon fire, and all the bodies of the bridge staff are missing, either abducted by the Borg or sucked out to space." Thorpe mumbled, signing off on the report before gently tugging the acting captain towards the turbolift. They stepped off onto the bridge, Nikki glancing at the hole in the side of the bridge, only the blue glow. She took a tentative step towards the command chair, sitting down in it. Thorpe came over to her, glancing at a PADD.

"I've attempted to rework the shifts. We barely have a senior staff. You, me, Ensign Webb, and Lieutenant Brown in Sickbay, but I haven't but her on the list because she's the last remaining medical officer we have. Hell, they've just now re-sealed sickbay. She'd been workin in holodeck one. Had it all set up like sickbay, got the stuff to work and all that." Thorpe said, handing her the PADD. She stared at it and started to say something, interrupted by a double chirp of a com channel.

"_Engineering to bridge, Warp engines are back online, but I wouldn't push anything over warp 8._" An unknown engineer said, the com channel clicking off. She glanced up at Thorpe who was watching as Gamma shift crew filed off the turbolift. Waiting for the helmsman to sit down, she looked at the half functioning viewscreen.

"Helm, set course for Vulcan, warp 7. Engage. Andy, you've got the bridge." She said, standing up and tugging on the bottom of her dirt and grime covered science blue uniform. Striding to the turbolift, she heard the helmsman make a comment to Thorpe.

"She wants us to go there _why_?"

USS Hammersley

Deck 5, Section 27-Baker

En Route to Vulcan, Warp 7

Nikki took one step into her cabin before she was overwhelmed by emotions. Josh's Risan cologne wafted over her, reminding her of the fact she had lost her lover. Stepping inside, she waited for the doors to whoosh close before she broke down into tears. Stumbling over to the plush green armchair, she sank into it, pulling her legs up to her chin to sob into the dirty fabric. She palmed away the tears, glancing at the holo-pic of her and Josh on their last shore leave on Starbase 211.

She looked back down the black grime and soot from exploded consoles and being thrown across engineering when the ship abruptly dropped out of warp contrasting sharply against the tealish blue of her uniform. She reached up and gently pulled her pips off, setting them down carefully on the arm of the chair as if they might break, plucking her combadge off and gently running her finger on the edge of the Starfleet delta. Standing up, Nikki reached behind her and pulled the zipper of the uniform down, releasing it and letting the fabric fall to her ankles. Kicking it and her boots off in one motion, she stepped to the replicator in nothing but her Starfleet issue underwear.

"Computer...one command track uniform with 4 pips." Nikki said, watching as the uniform materialized in the replicator cubby. Picking it up, she looked at the four pips on the collar.

'How very assumptious of you computer, knowing I wanted them on the uniform.' Nikki thought, slipping her legs into the jumpsuit and pulling it up. Fastening it, she reached down and grabbed her combadge, attaching it to it's customary place over her heart before slipping her boots on.

"Mourn later, Nikki. Right now, you've just become the person in charge of 500 people, and they need someone to look up to for guidance. And lucky you, being the only one with more than two pips on." Nikki said aloud, making sure her ponytail was fixed and stepping out into the hall towards the turbolift.

"Showtime." She mumbled, stepping into the lift.

Stardate 44013.5

1427 HRS Earth Time

USS Hammersley

In Orbit of Vulcan

Nikki sat in the command chair while Ensign Webb, fresh out of Sickbay, pounded on the tactical console.

"Sorry, sir. Communications are still offline." Webb said, looking up to meet the icy-cold stare of his _de facto_ captain.

"Are the ones in the shuttles still working?" Nikki asked, standing up and tugging on the bottom of her tunic. When she had appeared on the bridge 5 days earlier wearing it, she had shocked the crew by showing such a degree of taking over as captain.

"They should." Webb said, already sensing the direction the conversation was going.

"Bridge to Shuttlebay one, have the _Shuttlecraft Johnston_ standing by for launch, i'll be down in a minute. Bridge out. Mister Webb, you have the bridge." Nikki said, walking past the tactical console to the turbolift.

"Aye, sir. Helm, slow orbit to allow for shuttle launch." Webb said, easing himself into the command chair. Nikki strode into the shuttlebay, eyes locking on the _Shuttlecraft Johnston _sitting in the middle of the bay, the pilot already performing his preflight checks. Stepping into the medium sized type 8 shuttle, she sat down in the co-pilot seat and readied herself for a quick jaunt out to hail Vulcan and see if Earth still existed.

"Speed it up, will ya?" She sighed, jumping slightly when the door shut and the shuttle raised off the deck. Nikki watched as the shuttle moved smoothly out into space, taking up orbit behind _Hammersley._

"Patch me through to Vulcan." She said, turning to face the small viewscreen. Her eyes quickly locked on the _Hammersley_, the battle damaged quickly becoming evident as she watched Ensing Webb wave at her through the forcefield.

"Sir, I have Vulcan Planetary Council for you." The pilot said, putting the subspace live feed of a room of Vulcans on her screen. One of them stood up, a prelude to speaking. Nikki beat him to the opening line.

"I am Captain Caetano of the _Starship Hammersley. _We were heavily damaged in the battle at Wolf 359. Our subspace receiver was out, and it seemed unlikely that the Borg Cube would halt its advance towards Earth, so as acting captain I ordered us here." Nikki said, watching as the Vulcan that was going to speak open and close his mouth, at an apparent loss of words.

"Ah...that would logically explain our inability to receive a reply of our hails. You would be...grateful… to know that the _Starship Enterprise _was successful in stopping the Borg just moments before it attacked Earth. Starfleet Command had listed you as Lost in Combat. I shall endeavor to correct that mistake, while my adie will be available to you in your need to organize repairs. Vulcan out." The man said, leaving no room, or opportunity, for small talk. Nikki sat back in her seat and sighed.

"Well then. Now that we know Earth is still there, open a channel to Starfleet Command, priority one." She said, looking over at her pilot. She watched as the Federation symbol popped up, replaced almost instantaneously with the face of Admiral Alynna Nechayev, C-I-C of Starfleet.

"Yes?" Nechayev said, impatient. Nikki suppressed a smile.

"Acting Captain Caetano and the _Starship Hammersley _ reporting in, sir." She said, watching as Nechayev expression changed from irritation to shock.

"Could...could you repeat that please, Captain?" Nechayev stuttered, pale complexion getting a few shades plailer.

"_Starship Hammersley_, reporting in from Vulcan ma'am. The only surviving starship from the battle at Wolf 359. If I remember correctly, you said 40 starships would be...too many. Awaiting orders, our reports will be sent at once. _Hammersley _out." Nikki said, the slight smile on her face falling into an angry scowl. She slapped the console, watching as Nechayev shocked expression blinked off the screen. Falling back against the seat, she sighed and looked over at her pilot who was watching her intently.

"I've just ruined my career, haven't I?" She said, earning a shrug from the pilot as he started to direct the shuttle back towards the shuttlebay.

"No, i'll beam back. We'll use the shuttle as a subspace relay." She said, standing up and tugging on her tunic. She nodded to the pilot, stepping back to the two person emergency transporter. Stepping onto the pad, she tapped her combadge.

"Caetano to transporter room 3, one to beam aboard. Energize." She said, no more getting the word out of her mouth before the transporter beam enveloped her and dematerialized, re-materializing her on the pad in room 3. Nodding to the transporter operator, she stepped into the corridor towards the turbolift.

"Caetano to Webb." She said, waiting for the computer to route her call to the ensign.

"Yes, Captain?" Webb said, his voice distorted by the comm channel.

"Have all our reports sent down to my cabin, along with a casualty list with the next of kin names." Nikki said, stepping off the turbolift onto deck 5.

"Aye, sir." Webb said, closing the channel. Nikki stepped into her cabin, boxes of Josh's stuff stacked in the corner.

"Computer, One bottle of whiskey, a tumbler, and some music. Play….whatever you select. Random. Got that?" Nikki said, yanking her combadge off and setting it on the coffee table next to her phaser (Which, in the past 13 hours, she had contemplated using it on herself and shoving the burden onto Thorpe twice.) "Oh, and dim the lights a notch." she finished, grabbing a PADD off her desk and beginning to skim through the casualty list. Scrolling down, she let out a gasp, hand stopped mid reach for the replicator.

Lieutenant Josh Holiday

Next of Kin: Lieutenant Commander Nikki Caetano, Starship Hammersley

She sank to the ground next to her desk, letting the PADD slip from her hands and clatter to the floor. Pulling her legs up to her chin, she let her head fall against the leg of the desk as the door chime rang.

"Go away." She whispered weakly, looking at the phaser. She reached for it, getting it halfway back to her before a quick triple chirp came from the door signaling a door override. Ensign Webb took one glance at the phaser and launched himself at her, knocking the energy weapon out of her hand just before she hit the firing stud. He pulled her against his chest and pulled them back against the wall as she started sobbing into his mustard yellow security division uniform. She looked up at him, the tears in her eyes making them look darker than the already midnight black irises of her half Betazoid heritage. Her empathic shields were down, allowing her to feel the worry coming from the acting chief of security. She clutched at a handful of his uniform, curling it into her fist as her sobs slowly dissipated into sniffles, finally dying out altogether, her hand going slack.

He picked her up bridal style, carrying her into the bedroom portion of the cabin and laying her gently on the bed, removing her shoes and covering her with the blanket. Stepping back into the living area of the cabin, whispering orders to the computer as he went.

"Computer, dim the lights in the bedroom, cut the music, and put the reports I sent down here up on the desk viewer." He said, circling around the desk and sitting down. He looked down and saw the PADD Nikki had dropped. Bending down, he picked it up and saw the reason for the tearstains she'd left on his uniform.

"Well...shit."


End file.
